It was maybe a good 45 minutes or so post Australia finishing their main training session in Perth on Wednesday. When Scott Boland and Brendan Doggett, one a proud Gulidjan man and the other whose ancestry traces back to the Worimi people, walked arm in arm out of the Australian dug-out. In their possession was an Australian Aboriginal Flag, which they then wrapped around themselves before posing for photos as the first pair of Indigenous men who'll play in a Test match together for Australia come Friday to kick-off the Ashes.

It was a poignant moment not just for Boland and Doggett, but more all the First Nations people around the country for whom the Baggy Green has seemed a far-fetched fantasy for pretty much the entirety of Australia's Test cricket history.

The image of the two fast bowlers together was also the biggest giveaway as to the identity of Australia's third fast bowler to replace Josh Hazlewood for the opening Test in Perth. It had seemed pretty obvious anyway through the week that Doggett would be one coming into make his debut on Friday. He had for starters been picked in the original squad ahead of Michael Neser. Alongside also being one of the most successful wicket-takers in the Sheffield Shield over the last couple of seasons, including a famous 11-wicket haul in last summer's final to seal the title for South Australia.

And if any doubt still lingered, then they got cleared on Wednesday morning as Doggett shared a net with Mitchell Starc, while creating havoc with the new-ball on a juicy pitch. While Starc was at his menacing best, clean-bowling batters when he wasn't bouncing them or beating their outside-edges with a smirk on his face, Doggett was matching him blow for blow, showing why he would make an ideal new-ball partner for the 100-Test veteran in Perth.

But it won't be the only new pairing at the start of an innings for Australia to get the Ashes underway. For, at the other end of the spectrum will be a new opening pair with Usman Khawaja looking all set to get his latest partner in Jake Weatherald.

And as it turned out, facing Doggett and Starc in that net was the combination of Khawaja and Weatherald. It was Weatherald's third day training with the Australian Test team but this was the first time he had ended up in the same net as Khawaja. With the pair having batted in adjoining nets on the first two days.

It's already been fascinating and rather endearing how the Khawaja-Weatherald relationship has started to develop on the sidelines of training sessions. While they continue to have a running in-joke about how Khawaja refuses to refer to the 31-year-old left-hander by his original name, choosing "Jack" over Jake, the veteran opener has definitely started to take his younger colleague under his wings. The two have been spotted constantly chatting in between batting stints, and even walking out together post training on a couple of occasions.

To the extent this reporter was even tempted to ask Khawaja what it would take for him to move from Jack to Jake, within Weathearald's earshot, to which Khawaja joked that it would be organic as the summer wears on.

It's also been interesting to see how Weatherald himself has started to come into his own in terms of how he's gone about his preparation. On his first morning as part of an Australian Test team, there was this lovely moment where he stood by himself staring into the vast expanse of Perth Stadium, clearly soaking in every bit of having got to this level. When asked about what was going through his head while he did so, he'd said, "Just excitement to be here. To represent your country in a place like this is such a cool stadium. To look out and to see what it would look like obviously with everyone and it being full and walking out to bat there. So was imagining what it would be like to go out there."

And it was a bit of a baptism by fire in his first-ever nets session in Australian training gear as Pat Cummins charged in and tested every aspect of his technique. But he held his own eventually, and started to look a lot more like a batter who's on top of his game. Along with being the best Sheffield Shield opener in the country.

That confidence seemed even brighter on Day 2, as he began to show off his stroke-making prowess against every bowler who he had to face. He also ended up being the last batter to leave, having at least half-a-dozen different hits. With the last one involving Michael Hussey, who always helps out with training during Test matches in Perth. Hussey, who would be the likeliest candidate to present Weatherald with his Baggy Green on Friday, has played a mentor role for the man from Darwin who calls Adelaide home but plays state cricket for Tasmania. And this last session was all about the short ball as Weatherald worked on his best methods at combatting a tactic that the English fast bowlers will target him with. More than anything, you could see how much more comfortable he was being at training alongside the rest of the Test team. And comfortable around being on the cusp of a Test debut.

It was fascinating therefore to see the battle between Doggett and Weatherald on Wednesday. Two 31-year-olds who've both made great sacrifices in their lives and have seen a lot of life in their 31 years to get here. Two battle-hardened first-class cricketers who had to leave home to find their true calling in their adopted states. And two Test co-debutants who look poised to win Australia over both on and off the field.